Friday, 16 August 2013

Sergeant Sausage: Premier Inn – West Thurrock

Work had taken me on a jolly to London, which meant a night in a Premier Inn. Great, I thought, free breakfast!

This poster on the wall in the lift promised much

The view from the door as you enter

Is this a buffet I see before me?

Ooh machine coffee, my favourite…

A selection of popular juices

Unlimited fruit salad

Dried fruit with your fry up?

My nemesis, the roll-around toaster, If only it could talk.

On to the hot counter…

Or two

Strangely the eggs didn’t quite look like the poster…

We want hash browns!

We got hash browns?

My all you can eat breakfast

Not a quality sausage

Yes, I tried the hash brown, purely for research purposes

Mmmm, pink bacon

At least the poached egg yolks were runny

Upon entering – Okay, you’re in a chain, so expect a similar theme whichever Premier Inn you are in. It’s all been designed to provide a safe, clean and pleasant middle class dining experience in what usually doubles as the bar. Having preciously stayed in other Premier Inns I was expecting table service, but this one is hot counters. Oh joy. Stumbling through the low light into the buffet area I spied that choice was high, but stocks were low. I found my table, then made my way to the hot counters…. 7/10

Service – A nice lady greeted me when I waited to be seated and explained that porridge and poached eggs were available to order as well as the selection from buffet, and I was welcome to eat as much as I wished. A couple of waitresses were buzzing about, filling up the juice and clearing tables and having seen the eggs I ordered their poached counterpart from one of them. The bacon had run out so I had to wait for it to be replenished and whilst I was waiting one of the waitresses cleared my quarter drunk coffee from my table, but she soon realised her mistake when she bought me my freshly poached eggs. The replacement coffee tasted no better. 5/10

Presentation – Well I would normally give myself 10/10 for my own presentation! But the bowls and dishes all looked a bit faded under the hot light. 5/10

The food – The mushrooms were pretty good, not oily and mostly pleasant at a reasonable temperature. The bacon, cooked en masse was chewy and salty. The two bits I had picked up were cooked on one side and very pink where they had stuck together on the other. At least the beans were hot and well stewed and the grilled tomato was exceptional, really tangy and tasty. Unfortunately the much vaunted hash brown was awful. Completely overdone and to be honest, a bit offensive. A good attempt had been made with the sausage to hide the breadcrumb texture with spices and ‘meat flavourings’. I think I had been wise to choose the poached eggs and they were okay, but not free range. The bread went round twice in the toaster to get to a reasonable level of toasted. 5/10

Value for money – This is a tricky one as yes it was all you could eat, and there was a wide selection of hot and cold breakfast items, but I just didn’t have an appetite for it. Had I paid £8.25 for the less than impressive cooked breakfast I’m not sure I would have got value for money 5/10

Veggie option – Yes, but no veggie specials.

Overall – Slightly below average really. The surroundings were pleasant enough, but I’m not sure about the piped music “love me me, fool me fool me” seemed appropriate though. The food was very hit and miss with the more basic items outshining the supposed stars. I’m not really sure who the arrangement suits best, the hotel chain or the customer with the budget spent on style and not content. It’s just all a bit automatic and lacking in character really. You won’t find breakfast perfection here. 5/10